Three dot dash Mentorship program

2018 GLOBAL TEEN LEADERS

gOALS AND EXPECTATIONS

The 2018 Global Teen Leaders (GTLs) completed an extensive Pre-Summit Survey to help us to get to know them better. Some of the survey questions were designed to help us curate the best GTL/Mentor match possible based on common interests, expertise and specific goals. We often find that an “obvious match”, such as a Mentor who is a climate activist matched with a GTL working on environmental issues, may not make the best match based on the GTL’s specific goals—something to consider as you read.

It’s also important to know that all survey question answers were directly copied as the GTLs wrote them. So, please excuse any grammatical or spelling errors and remember that English is not always a GTL’s first language.

Feel free to contact Ali Caplan at alexandra@wearefamilyfoundation.org with any questions or additional comments. Happy reading!

Abu qader

Specifically, what does your project or organization need the most in order to grow and succeed in the next year? Example: Succession plan OR more volunteers OR fundraising

Fundraising. Securing capital would be huge for us and would enable us to build out the API in full time without having to feel bootstrapped on cash. Would also help with server costs.

What are your THREE most important goals you want to accomplish with your Mentor in the next year? List each goal and explain with as much detail as possible to how you plan to follow through with your Mentor’s guidance.

Firstly, I want GliaLab to raise more funding in the next year and to take that funding and actually create results. Tips on how to get funding, routes to gain more funding and what to do with it are all things that I would follow on behalf of my mentors guidance.

Secondly, I want to become much more productive. The goal here is to increase value per hour (how much work I get done in an hour). Maximizing my time is crucial to getting all the things I want to get done and is at the core of any great leader. My mentor would be there to provide tips on that and keep me in check at times as to what I should be doing more/less.

Lastly, I want to be networking more. Making more connections with people is crucial in general. I want my mentor to help me make connections and advise me on how to carry myself and rules of thumb when it comes to making meaningful connections with people.

What sector, profession and/or areas of expertise would be most useful to your project/organization? Make sure to clearly explain why.

Honestly, I would say someone with a tech background would be useful but I'm not sure. Part of me believes that someone with a social activist background would really empower me more and help me more as an individual because they have qualities (being bold, courageous, deeply rooted in their morals) that I eventually want to attain. Obviously someone with a tech background would be helpful because they have connections in the area of expertise that excites me but also understand the core of what we're building at GliaLab. My heart leans towards someone with an activist background and my mind leans toward someone with a tech background.

I would want them to have a passion for life! Lively, enthusiastic, raw people always excite me and make for interesting conversations. My mentality (for a lot of my decisions) is to do whatever would make me happiest at the end of the day. A "no regrets, YOLO" mentality is an apt way to describe my mentality and I would hope they have something similar. I also would want them to be passionate about making impact and making major/global amounts of change. It makes them more relatable and I think would spark some interesting conversations.

Mentors often have a wide network of contacts; what type of contacts would be most useful to your project/organization? Explain why for each type of contact.

Contacts of all types are welcome and appreciated but the ones that would benefit me the most would be in tech and investing. Tech contacts would be helpful in forging partnerships with other people that could comment on what we're actually building as well as grow my network for opportunities in the future in tech. Investing contacts (more so people in VC, etc) would be helpful for fundraising and for future fundraising in any other ventures I begin.

Akshaya dinesh

Specifically, what does your project or organization need the most in order to grow and succeed in the next year? Example: Succession plan OR more volunteers OR fundraising

Sponsorship money

What are your THREE most important goals you want to accomplish with your Mentor in the next year? List each goal and explain with as much detail as possible to how you plan to follow through with your Mentor’s guidance.

1. I want to increase participation of girls learning coding through Girls Make Apps' programs. I would use my Mentor's experience with educational outreach programs to find out how to best reach students and parents.

2. I want to get more sponsors and partners for the nonprofit to support our mission. My mentor can help me draft proposals and get contacts for sponsor companies and partners.

3. I want to organize the organization in a better way, with a new Executive Board and new roles for leadership. Using my Mentor's experience with leading organizations, I can determine what qualities are most important in nonprofit leaders.

What sector, profession and/or areas of expertise would be most useful to your project/organization? Make sure to clearly explain why.

Education, coding, CS, STEM, engineering, diversity, equality, feminism. These themes all tie in to the general mission/goal of Girls Make Apps and what we want to achieve.

AMANDA SOUTHWORTH

Specifically, what does your project or organization need the most in order to grow and succeed in the next year? Example: Succession plan OR more volunteers OR fundraising

I need a stronger social media plan that creates a community while also building my brand. I also would like to review my app and see what's working, as well as what's not.

What are your THREE most important goals you want to accomplish with your Mentor in the next year? List each goal and explain with as much detail as possible to how you plan to follow through with your Mentor’s guidance.

1) Create a community.

I plan on doing this through constant social media marketing and interaction, but I haven't had the time to focus on doing this enough to create a community.

2) Create a company / organization to house all of my apps under.

I want to cultivate my own brand for using technology to solve problems facing this world today. This involves branding, websites, and some legal work. I'm unsure of how to proceed with the legalities of registering for this, and as a result, I haven't been able to do this.

3) Find ways for me to be as productive as possible without becoming burned out.

I have many projects that I'm working on, and I am also completing high school. In addition, I do other appearances for companies and do side projects. My schedule is insane, even on a regular day. I would like to find a way to deal with working so hard, but still being able to have fun with friends and relax.

What sector, profession and/or areas of expertise would be most useful to your project/organization? Make sure to clearly explain why.

I would prefer someone who has worked within tech, as they have insight and advice into a community that I am just entering. Silicon Valley has its' own special codes and rules, many of which I have to learn if I want to be successful within my projects. As someone who is definitely considered a minority in the tech world (female), I have to fight a bit more to gain the respect of others within the industry. Having a mentor who has been through that and can give me informed insight would help me become more confident in my skills and give me an edge to advance my projects. I definitely need help reaching out to more people, and finding ways to fund my project. I've done what I believe is a good job of creating a solution, now I just need to advertise it to the people who need it.

I would want my mentor to be democratic, as many of the solutions I employ within my projects tend to be against many conservative morals, such as the security app I made for the LGBTQ+ community. I wouldn't want me and my mentor to clash over politics when the focus should be on developing the project. Other than that, I am open to hearing all different sides and opinions that can in any way help grow my projects.

Mentors often have a wide network of contacts; what type of contacts would be most useful to your project/organization? Explain why for each type of contact.

I would prefer to have contacts within social media and marketing. I have an idea of how I want to configure my social media, but I am not quite sure about the tools and other tips that I could use to grow it even more. I am also currently running marketing campaigns, but I am quite bad at marketing on a budget. Considering that I have no funding, nor budget, it would be quite helpful to be in connection with someone who can give me insight on what I can do with the current resources I have.

Amine soufaih

Specifically, what does your project or organization need the most in order to grow and succeed in the next year? Example: Succession plan OR more volunteers OR fundraising

Scientific and technological development (Prototyping and piloting), fundraising, and strong marketing.

What are your THREE most important goals you want to accomplish with your Mentor in the next year? List each goal and explain with as much detail as possible to how you plan to follow through with your Mentor’s guidance.

1. Technological mentorship: I want to discuss with my mentor the technology we are using to monitor the water in irrigation. It would help if my mentor has a technological background (Coding, science...) because it is tough to create a perfect code that takes into consideration most of the water parameters.

2. Marketing: I want to work with my mentor on the best marketing strategy X-Agriculture has to follow in order to reach most of the farmers that are targeted. I don't have a lot of experience in marketing so I think that would be really helpful.

3. Network: One of my objectives is to benefit from my mentor's network by linking me with different opportunities or start-up incubators/accelerators as well as competitions. In addition, my mentor could help me connect with potential investors.

What sector, profession and/or areas of expertise would be most useful to your project/organization? Make sure to clearly explain why.

A passion for technological innovation and its use in solving the world's biggest challenges. I think this strongly relates to the mission and vision of X-Agriculture. In addition, the passion for youth and its power in shaping the future.

Mentors often have a wide network of contacts; what type of contacts would be most useful to your project/organization? Explain why for each type of contact.

1. Companies working agri-tech: These companies could working on similar projects and their expertise could very helpful in the growth of X-Agriculture.

2. Investors: These contacts could potentially be interested in funding X-Agriculture and contributing to our work.

3. Researchers and Professors: These contacts could help us with the science and technology behind the project.

Annie lu

Specifically, what does your project or organization need the most in order to grow and succeed in the next year? Example: Succession plan OR more volunteers OR fundraising

Better outreaching OR more sponsors OR more connections OR fundraising

What are your THREE most important goals you want to accomplish with your Mentor in the next year? List each goal and explain with as much detail as possible to how you plan to follow through with your Mentor’s guidance.

Three most important goals I want to accomplish with my mentor this year is learning how to outreach to big partners. For example, we are currently reaching out to various institutions like Stanford, UC Berkeley, and corporations that are willing to sponsor us, but it is difficult to get them to listen to a nonprofit that is still building up. How do I, as a 17 year old high school student, get the attention of these important people to ask for help? I want to be able to troubleshoot with my mentor in order to overcome these obstacles. Additionally, I want to learn how to effectively utilize marketing and growing a social media base. How do I gain the support of our local community? BridgEd currently has the support of HERlead, but we are still lacking resources and support from our local community. How does BridgEd gain a following? I want to be able to work closely with my mentor in order to learn from their past experiences and apply their advice on marketing to our business strategy. I will ask my mentor questions and listen to their advice. Finally, one last goal I wish to accomplish with my mentor this next year is reviewing business strategy. Our current model of impact is mainly through holding workshops, and we also want to implement a one on one mentoring program with college students as mentors, and hold a convention in which low-income students can meet with their regional admissions officers of top colleges. We are having difficulty implementing our project, and may have to spend next year building up our organization as well. I want to listen to the feedback and advice of my mentor on the practicality of BridgEd's business strategy, how to effectively utilize our time and resources to implement our strategy, and what changes we could make to our strategy.

What sector, profession and/or areas of expertise would be most useful to your project/organization? Make sure to clearly explain why.

Someone with more of a corporate, outreach, business, branding, networking, and marketing expertise would be most useful for me because our main problem is outreaching to obtain sponsors and partners. Since having sponsors and partners is such an integral aspect of BridgEd, which we are also having problems with, having a mentor with that background would be highly beneficial. Additionally, someone with expertise in entrepreneurship would also be beneficial, because one of our main problems is growing, building, and expanding, so someone who has a background in entrepreneurship could help us in reviewing our business model and expanding our impact.

My ideal mentor would have a passion in helping youth, especially high school students. This is important because not only am I a high school student working to make an impact, BridgEd targets low-income high school students to bridge the socioeconomic gap. As a result, not only is it important to have a passion in helping youth, it is important to be passionate about promoting equity. My ideal mentor would also believe in the importance of pursuing higher education and going to college, as BridgEd promotes this idea for low-income high school students.

Mentors often have a wide network of contacts; what type of contacts would be most useful to your project/organization? Explain why for each type of contact.

Ideally, the types of contacts that would be the most useful for BridgEd would be contacts in major recognized colleges like Stanford, UC Berkeley, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc. These are important because we want to be able to implement a one on one mentorship program for low-income high school students, as well as host a annual conference in the summer to provide an opportunity for students to meet with their regional admissions officers. Furthermore, if my mentor also has contacts to various consulting and test preparation companies, we would be able to contact them to see if they would be willing to provide free counseling to students and to hold workshops pro bono or at a discounted rate, in which BridgEd would be able to pay. Finally, it would be useful if my mentor had contacts to social campaigns regarding education such as Better Make Room, or major agencies like Questbridge and Common App, so we could better reach out to them and collaborate as partners.

Aryaman khandelwal

Specifically, what does your project or organization need the most in order to grow and succeed in the next year? Example: Succession plan OR more volunteers OR fundraising

A defined expansion plan with dedicated volunteers in multiple countries, as well as connections withing the UN and other global healthcare-based nonprofits

What are your THREE most important goals you want to accomplish with your Mentor in the next year? List each goal and explain with as much detail as possible to how you plan to follow through with your Mentor’s guidance.

1. Submit the Get2Greater proposal to the United Nations and get approval to work with UN resources. This will require rigorous data collection and analysis to show the positive effect Get2Greater is having on the 30 villages where it is being implemented. This will need to be presented in a formal paper format. There may be additional information that may need to be collected based on interaction with UN representatives.

2. Reach out to nonprofits either through the UN if the previous step is successful or individually if it is unsuccessful for Get2Greater implementation. This will require pinpointing areas around the globe where accessibility to healthcare is poor and contacting health-based nonprofits currently administering treatment. Once communication is established, I would hope to hash out a plan for Get2Greater rollout in the area if the nonprofit is open to the idea.

3. Develop versions of the app to implement in these areas based on individual needs. This would require in-depth analysis of the health issues that each area faces as well as an understanding of which factors could be used to diagnose the conditions of the area.

What sector, profession and/or areas of expertise would be most useful to your project/organization? Make sure to clearly explain why.

For my project, connections in the world of nonprofits would be particularly beneficial to me as the main impact of my project is in the nonprofit space. In addition, the technology and education sectors would also be useful, since my project has a strong foundation in technology. As I move forward with the project, I am also looking into new ways to train and education villagers in health-based matters, so education is also a key sector in Get2Greater's future.

I would hope that my mentor has a strong underlying drive to change society for the better by making a positive impact in the world through service. My life and my work has always been guided by this principle, and it would be great if my mentor shared the same goal in whatever field he/she works in.

Mentors often have a wide network of contacts; what type of contacts would be most useful to your project/organization? Explain why for each type of contact.

1. Nonprofits - As I look to expand Get2Greater, I am looking for nonprofits who already work on a global scale to work with. I understand that managing Get2Greater if it is implemented in multiple countries may be outside of my capabilities, and I would hope to be able to have the support of an established organization in my goals.

2. Healthcare - As Get2Greater expands into more locations, it will need to encompass a more diverse range of health conditions, based on the needs of the location. To understand the factors needed for these diagnoses, I will need to work with qualified health professionals on these issues.

3. Technology - Get2Greater always faces technical concerns, and will need a far larger technical infrastructure to handle expansion. Having contacts in the tech field will allow me to find the best people to help work on this infrastructure and additional features.

4. Funding/Capital - As a nonprofit looking to expand, Get2Greater will be in need of funding, and having connections in capital management will aid in this effort.

Averina Suwana

Specifically, what does your project or organization need the most in order to grow and succeed in the next year? Example: Succession plan OR more volunteers OR fundraising

Fundraising

What are your THREE most important goals you want to accomplish with your Mentor in the next year? List each goal and explain with as much detail as possible to how you plan to follow through with your Mentor’s guidance.

Three goals that I would like to achieve with my mentors are increase funding for the project, increase the project scope to create more detailed activities and improve engagement with targeted individuals to achieve the org's goals.

What sector, profession and/or areas of expertise would be most useful to your project/organization? Make sure to clearly explain why.

The most usual areas would be knowledge on southeast asia healthcare system, on community development and possibly medical profession. All these areas relevant to the organization's mission and vision, in addition to the nature of the activities and project.

carisa shah

Specifically, what does your project or organization need the most in order to grow and succeed in the next year? Example: Succession plan OR more volunteers OR fundraising

I need more volunteers to help expand CyberSensibility. With more people working on the curriculum, it will become more innovative and hopefully more effective in teaching students. Another benefit of having more volunteers working on the program is that they could help with advertising and community outreach.

I also need more money to continue to ship boxes to the schools and camps that use my curriculum. Though schools recognize that internet safety is important, through my interactions with teachers, I know that many schools are unable to spend additional funding on this educational curriculum. It is hard to find funding to prevent a problem before it occurs - this strategy is the crux of my project.

My goal with CyberSensibility is to implement the curriculum in as many schools as possible. In addition to having more volunteers and funding, one of the main challenges that I have faced is speaking with the right people to make this happen. Working with someone who has a broad network would be really helpful in achieving my goal.

What are your THREE most important goals you want to accomplish with your Mentor in the next year? List each goal and explain with as much detail as possible to how you plan to follow through with your Mentor’s guidance.

1) advertisement and outreach

With my Mentor's guidance, I want to broaden the reach of CyberSensibility to more children and teenagers across the country who are most vulnerable to cyberbullying. Internet safety is a really important topic that is not addressed in many schools. Using the network and expertise of my Mentor, I hope to advertise the curriculum and improve my social media presence. For example, the ALS ice-bucket challenge was really successful in raising awareness and funding - I want to use a similar strategy to prevent bullying. One idea I had was to integrate CyberSensibility with popular social media apps such as SnapChat so it is always available to the right demographic. I could see users having to scroll through/complete the curriculum before creating an account on the social media site or playing a video game.

2) expand the curriculum beyond cyberbullying

CyberSensibility currently addresses only cyberbullying. I would like to expand the curriculum to include education regarding other forms of bullying. Another important aspect of bullying is the consequences of it - I would like to expand on the downstream effects of bullying, including self-esteem, confidence, and suicide. I also want to refine my curriculum to make it more engaging for children and help prevent bullying in all its forms as best as possible. I will be able to do this by making the curriculum more innovative - the more fun the students have when using the curriculum, the more impactful it will be.

3) sustainability

I need to create a business plan to make my project sustainable. With my current strategy, I use grant funding to send boxes full of necessary materials to the schools/camps using my curriculum. I think that I need a better strategy to either reduce the cost of each box so I can use the funding to reach more students or have a constant stream of funding (sponsorship) to continue this project. It is also important to measure the impact of the curriculum because if I demonstrate my impact, it may be easier to get a sustainable stream of funding.

What sector, profession and/or areas of expertise would be most useful to your project/organization? Make sure to clearly explain why.

I think that a Mentor with a strong social media or telecommunications background would be very helpful as I try to expand CyberSensibility. I have seen the impact of social media campaigns in increasing awareness and funding and want to replicate this as best as possible with my program. I also would really like to work with someone with experience in technology as I try to make my curriculum more innovative and engaging to children. A Mentor with a technology background may also really appreciate the importance of cyberbullying and its impact on women in STEM.

I want a Mentor who is engaged and excited about my project and my long-term goals. I want a Mentor who is passionate about helping me and available to do so. I really appreciate the opportunity that I have been given and will work hard to make my project even better and want my Mentor to share that goal with me.

Mentors often have a wide network of contacts; what type of contacts would be most useful to your project/organization? Explain why for each type of contact.

Media - to help me advertise CyberSensibility and expand the reach of the curriculum

Tech contacts - refine the curriculum, make it more engaging/exciting to children, and improve my online presence

Ciara-beth griffin

Specifically, what does your project or organization need the most in order to grow and succeed in the next year? Example: Succession plan OR more volunteers OR fundraising

A developer willing to collaborate!!!!

What are your THREE most important goals you want to accomplish with your Mentor in the next year? List each goal and explain with as much detail as possible to how you plan to follow through with your Mentor’s guidance.

1. Get this app up and out on to the app store, and in the hands of the people who need it. I need someone who can help guide me as to what steps to take to get this app in tip-top shape. This means I would want feedback on everything from user interface to device compatibility to the colour of the background. I would also want them to be able to reassure me that I am doing the right thing/making the right call or call me out on it if I'm not

2. Getting social. I need someone to teach me how to use social media to promote a project, and how to get people engaged and invested in the project, even if they aren't personally using the project, because a major part of my project is getting people to understand and accept people with ASD in their communities

3. Expanding. I have big plans for this app to grow into a library of digital tools and resources for people with ASD, their families and their therapists/teachers. But even the minor parts I've been dealing with up until now, I don't know how to effectively manage an expansion, so any guidance as to that would be greatly appreciated!!!

What sector, profession and/or areas of expertise would be most useful to your project/organization? Make sure to clearly explain why.

My mentor would preferably have a fair amount of experience in getting people invested and engaged with projects. I would benefit from this greatly, because the next major phase of my project relies on me being able to get people invested and engaged with my project. A basic understanding of Autism or special/different needs would be preferable but definitely not essential, for the obvious reason of my project supporting people who are on the autism spectrum, but it's not a dealbreaker. Finally a background in technology would also be useful, as I don't always know what I should be looking for when building an app, and the next phase is only going to get more complicated.

My ideal mentor would be passionate about disability (or different ability as I like to call it!) advocacy and support, because it will be a lot easier for them to become engaged in a project that advocates and supports people with disabilities if they're already passionate about that type of work.

It would be nice if they were passionate about music also, as I am passionate about music, and it would be nice for us to have more in common than just work :)

I'd like for them to believe that people with disabilities are also people, and should be treated as such!

Mentors often have a wide network of contacts; what type of contacts would be most useful to your project/organization? Explain why for each type of contact.

Contacts who would be willing to get me into events where I could tell my story and how it led to MiContact would be amazing and a massive help. Telling these stories is how I plan to get people invested and engaged with the project, which is vital for the project's success, and I don't have these kinds of contacts myself.

CLARA NEVINS

Specifically, what does your project or organization need the most in order to grow and succeed in the next year? Example: Succession plan OR more volunteers OR fundraising

We need more consistent engagement on our discussions. I'm really interested in the ways in which technology can inform civic life. I see Bridge the Divide as the vehicle for our generation to be engaged and informed about issues on all sides. I would love for Bridge the Divide's comment section to really be at the forefront of our work. However, now we have to constantly push ambassadors to use our discussion boards. I would love for people who are not ambassadors or who do not feel educated about certain issues to feel like they can participate. Unfortunately, right now, only people who know about the discussions are participating. I think it can feel kind of exclusive to outside people who happen upon our website. I would love to create a thriving, more inviting discussion platform, especially for a younger middle school aged audience.

What are your THREE most important goals you want to accomplish with your Mentor in the next year? List each goal and explain with as much detail as possible to how you plan to follow through with your Mentor’s guidance.

1. I would love for my mentor to be able to help with outreach for Bridge the Divide, particularly in the United States. It is incredible that Bridge the Divide is so international, but many of the issues we are trying to solve are ones that take place in the United States. It would be great if my mentor and I could work on social media campaigns to attract middle schoolers and high schoolers around the United States. With my mentor's guidance, I can commit to running this social media campaign on Bridge the Divide's social media platforms. Additionally, it would be amazing to get public officials and/or people voted into office to promote Bridge the Divide on their platforms.

2. My second goal is for my mentor to help me get Bridge the Divide into schools across the country. I ould love for history teachers in red states and blue states to integrate Bridge the Divide in the classroom. I even think an entire curriculum could be built around the discussion platform on Bridge the Divide. Another idea could be to do a google hangout event with two schools across the country so that the students could talk about political issues and hear from differing perspectives. I would love to lead this initiative by writing the curriculum with my mentor's guidance. I can also take on the role of reaching out to individual schools.

3. My last goal is for my mentor to help me with leadership strategies. Like I mentioned earlier in the survey, it is difficult to coordinate everything within our 5 person board. A variety of problems arise because our communication isn't great--sometimes people feel left out or not listened to. I would love for my mentor to give me some suggestions as to how to go about running an organization from the top in the most kind and effective way. My mentor and I could chart out what is working, what isn't working, and how to fix it. I can then implement the strategies we come up with in board meetings, slack chats, and more.

What sector, profession and/or areas of expertise would be most useful to your project/organization? Make sure to clearly explain why.

Like I said earlier in the survey, I am very interested in the intersection of technology and civic engagement. I think there is so much that has yet to be done with this, and I am interested in pursuing these ideas as a career. I think there are several ways to encourage activism, voting, and general civic engagement through technology and social media. I see Bridge the Divide as a way for young people to immerse themselves in political issues online. Young people are the future and we all communicate online. It's almost an entirely new language and I would love to work with someone at the forefront of creating this language. It would be incredible for my mentor to be at an innovative tech/social media company like Google, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr etc. I know many of these companies now have civic engagement departments.

My mentor would be innovative, passionate, positive, supportive, and open. I'm a big fan of people who never think any idea is stupid. I would consider myself a dreamer and a do-er, and I would love that quality in my mentor. I am a person who tends to have a lot of big ideas and I love working with people who also have big ideas! It's important for my mentor to be open because I would call myself an open person, but even more than that, the work we do at Bridge the Divide requires an open mind and heart. Lastly, I would love someone who is civic minded and interested in global issues because those two things are at the forefront of my work!

Mentors often have a wide network of contacts; what type of contacts would be most useful to your project/organization? Explain why for each type of contact.

I would love for my mentor to have social media contacts. Like I have said, I am very interested in using social media to push civic engagement. My ultimate goal for Bridge the Divide is to get the discussion section to a place where it is self sustaining. Ideally, every time a user posts something, they should be able to check back a few minutes later and see some feedback. This could be likened to Twitter or other social media platforms that promote discussion.

It would also be great for my mentor to have contacts in the education world since I would love to get Bridge the Divide involved in middle school, high school, and even college curriculums.

Lastly, I would love contacts in politics. It would be incredible if a senator/congressman/mayor were to promote Bridge the Divide on their social media platforms. I think it would reflect well on the politician because it means that they are open to "the other side" and it would also be a great way to get people talking about Bridge the Divide. Taking Bridge the Divide to the government level would be amazing! We could even spotlight different politicians and interview them about the importance of bridging divides in their work.

David kobroSky

Specifically, what does your project or organization need the most in order to grow and succeed in the next year? Example: Succession plan OR more volunteers OR fundraising

Succession plan that will definitely include fundraising and structuring realistic goals around: 1. documentary 2. partnerships 3. working with governments.

What are your THREE most important goals you want to accomplish with your Mentor in the next year? List each goal and explain with as much detail as possible to how you plan to follow through with your Mentor’s guidance.

1. My first goal is to expand the Skate 4 Africa network to 10 developing countries, the majority of which should be in Africa given the demand for youth oriented programs. In order to do this, it would make sense to build more partnerships in the US not only in the skate industry, but also with the UN and other international organizations. Since my mentor will most likely be more knowledgeable than I in partnerships with international organizations and working with governments, I would whole heartedly follow their advice and send weekly updates for progress on each goal we set.

2. The second goal is to figure out the most effective way to distribute products and build skateparks alongside partners. We need to establish our role. Are we the organization that distributes grants? Do we do the physical building? (I do not think we should do this part considering that construction is a fairly large part of many African economies and it’d be more effective to hire construction companies abroad). We need to determine our primary focus. I think this will be along the lines of developing a rewards system for children to skateboard given that they stay engaged with school. Skate 4 Africa’s current model isn’t scalable and I think this needs to be addressed before our next project. Based on my mentor’s guidance, I’d like to determine more about Skate 4 Africa’s identity within the first few months of our relationship.

3. Find ways that technology can aid our organization. With the rise in technology, it allows for a broader range of applications within skating. These include getting more involved with blockchain systems that can aid the transportation and supply chain systems of other companies in the skating industry. Perhaps electric skateboards can help with school transportation as cars are heavily taxed in Ethiopia in particular. I plan to follow through with advice by listening to my mentors thoughts about what ways an organization like mine can improve upon a community’s education.

What sector, profession and/or areas of expertise would be most useful to your project/organization? Make sure to clearly explain why.

Given my three goals: Expanding our reach, nailing a core focus based on the need of developing countries, and implementing technology, I think that someone in the space of emerging economies, economic development, or international relations may be the most reasonable partnership. I also think a strong knowledge of fundraising and building an organization up from the ground would be incredibly helpful. Finally, someone who understands how education is developed and how it varies between location would immensely help Skate 4 Africa.

My ideal mentor would have a belief of idealistic realism. They’d be someone who is grounded, yet doesn’t see anything entirely out of the question. My mentor would have a passion for just that: mentorship. I’d like someone to hold my hand across the street when necessary, and let me run ahead when I think I’m ready to push forward on the goal (No, I don’t want a fatherly or motherly figure but you get the metaphor). Also, I definitely would like a Mentor who is willing to keep me to my word. I don’t want to miss a deadline and them saying don’t worry about it. I want them to tell me, “Why weren’t you able to do that” and “What can you do to prevent this next time”. I need a mentor who will also aid me in my work whether it be connecting me with a friend of theirs or telling me in a straightforward manner, why I should do something differently.

Mentors often have a wide network of contacts; what type of contacts would be most useful to your project/organization? Explain why for each type of contact.

1. Fundraising/investors. The more knowledge I have about fundraising and financially building Skate 4 Africa, the easier it will be to implement our goals at a timely pace. I’d like to know what ways Skate 4 Africa can become more appealing to donors.

2. Technology/Education fields. The more my mentor can help connect me with people who understand education and technology, the better I can see where developing countries are working towards in these sectors and thus, would enable me to find overlaps between skateboarding and the future of developing countries.

3. Government. The more knowledge I have about governments and how they function, the better chance I’ll have to expand and gain partnerships down the road. Also, I’d be able to grasp what is in the scope of a government as opposed to a NGO.

Specifically, what does your project or organization need the most in order to grow and succeed in the next year? Example: Succession plan OR more volunteers OR fundraising

Fundraising and management

What are your THREE most important goals you want to accomplish with your Mentor in the next year? List each goal and explain with as much detail as possible to how you plan to follow through with your Mentor’s guidance.

1) Setting up my social enterprise as a legal entity. I'd like my mentor to be able to give me guidance on this

2) How to create an authentic social media presence for my project

3) On how to cope with situations that my affect me emotionally

What sector, profession and/or areas of expertise would be most useful to your project/organization? Make sure to clearly explain why.

The social enterprise sector so they have an understanding of the situations I may face with my project.

That the project is successful based on the impact it has and that it is not profit driven and should not be commercialised. Lots of the advice I've received is to commercialise it but that is not what I want for my project.

Mentors often have a wide network of contacts; what type of contacts would be most useful to your project/organization? Explain why for each type of contact.

Business people who may be in a position to offer advice and potentially funding and those in the non-profit sector.

What are your THREE most important goals you want to accomplish with your Mentor in the next year? List each goal and explain with as much detail as possible to how you plan to follow through with your Mentor’s guidance.

The first goal is to develop and refine current diagnostic algorithms. I am continuing to teach myself new deep learning and modeling techniques improve the accuracy of my current diagnostic algorithms. I would love a mentor with an artificial intelligence background who can provide insights and expertise along the process.

The second goal is to identify which diseases to replicate the biomarker identification and diagnostic algorithm process for next. Ideally, my mentor would have a medical background or have worked on projects in the past with different neurological diseases.

The third goal is to determine how to best develop and scale my organization from both a business and research perspective. I would love a mentor who has experience in the past launching clinical trials and with the FDA approval process. Further, I would love guidance on how to best navigate and form partnerships in the medical community, especially with specific hospitals.

What sector, profession and/or areas of expertise would be most useful to your project/organization? Make sure to clearly explain why.

A mentor with an artificial intelligence background would be especially useful. This background would be especially applicable, as I am currently working on improving my diagnostic algorithms and learning new deep learning techniques. Further, someone who is familiar with the medical and research community would provide invaluable insights as I launch new studies with PD and other neurological diseases.

I want my mentor to believe in the power of the individual to create change. Further, I want my mentor to believe in the underdog. This whole process has been such a learning experience and I am continuously learning new material to further my idea. I want my mentor to be an advocate and supporter of this learning process. Further, I would love a mentor who is passionate about using technology and AI to create innovative, disruptive solutions in the healthcare sector.

Mentors often have a wide network of contacts; what type of contacts would be most useful to your project/organization? Explain why for each type of contact.

godwin egba

Specifically, what does your project or organization need the most in order to grow and succeed in the next year? Example: Succession plan OR more volunteers OR fundraising

Succession plan and more effective volunteers.

What are your THREE most important goals you want to accomplish with your Mentor in the next year? List each goal and explain with as much detail as possible to how you plan to follow through with your Mentor’s guidance.

1.To become a good public speaker: In the next year I should be a good public speaker when reaching out to public or private schools.

2. To become a good story teller: in the next one year I should be able to tell our success story in anywhere in the world cutting across any profession or experties.

3. To become a good and creative Entrepreneur: when it comes to being a good entrepreur I should be an icon to the youths and to the world in the next one year.

What sector, profession and/or areas of expertise would be most useful to your project/organization? Make sure to clearly explain why.

Educational sector: this is because i need someone that have more experience than me and would be able to guide me so I don't make mistakes when dealing with students in the future.

HARSHU MUSUNURI

Specifically, what does your project or organization need the most in order to grow and succeed in the next year? Example: Succession plan OR more volunteers OR fundraising

My primary goal for the next year is to build a committed team for our organization. Right now, I'm the one doing the fundraising, technology development, and outreach, and if I'm going to be growing this organization, it will be crucial to recruit board members and volunteers that will advise and help with these aspects. This is especially true of the sepsis awareness and outreach campaigns, which will expand only with the continued support of local community members. To do this, we're planning on building a network of sepsis survivors that can take our curriculum and resources and apply it in their own communities on behalf of the organization to raise awareness and speak about their experience.

What are your THREE most important goals you want to accomplish with your Mentor in the next year? List each goal and explain with as much detail as possible to how you plan to follow through with your Mentor’s guidance.

1) Technology Implementation

While I'm in the process of filing for a patent and scaling up my technology, I'm doing it with the eventual goal of implementing a theranostic tool for sepsis. I'd like to obtain an FDA IDE to test my nanoparticles in clinical settings sometime next year, but I know that there will be several regulatory and logistical hurdles to cross to be able to do this. I'm looking for advice on different paths I could take with this technology, and mapping out a series of steps I could take in the coming years as my research develops further.

2) Sustainability

I want to make sure that InflammAid succeeds in raising sepsis awareness in the coming years. Right now, I'm the one holding information sessions and speaking about sepsis, but this will become a lot more difficult once I'm in college. To determine how to ensure that our outreach program remains robust, I'd need to experiment with different strategies such as larger scale community events or recruiting volunteers. Working and discussing with someone who is familiar with such work will help me determine a path forward for these educational efforts. I'm also hoping that the contacts I gain through my mentor will assist with expanding our outreach.

3) Prioritization

InflammAid clearly has two "prongs": education and innovation. While I strongly believe that both are crucial to reducing sepsis mortality, I want to maximize the impact that our organization so I'd like to really determine where our strengths lie in the coming year. Hearing the advice of someone who is familiar with both efforts would help determine the direction in which InflammAid goes in the future (e.g. 501(c3) vs. 501(c4) vs. for-profit).

What sector, profession and/or areas of expertise would be most useful to your project/organization? Make sure to clearly explain why.

I believe that someone with a global health or biotechnology background would be most useful to this organization. One of the primary reasons is that they would understand and be able to offer their insight on how to navigate regulatory hurdles such as the FDA or USPTO. Sepsis is also a condition caused by infection so it affects people around the world. Therefore, it's important for the organization to take an approach that addresses inequities in how diseases are detected and treated in different countries. Those that work in global health would have a more comprehensive understanding of these disparities, and would have contacts with people that could offer more relevant perspectives.

Passion for not only science but also implementation- STEM was what sparked my interest to pursue this project in the first place. Being able to have technical conversations about the pros and cons of pursuing different avenues with my research would be wonderful as it would offer a different perspective from the academicians that I work with in the lab.

Belief that all humans are created equal- It is a known fact that certain communities and countries are affected more severely by sepsis than others, whether it is due to a lack of training, knowledge or tools. I believe that all of our lives hold value, which means it is our responsibility to address these gaps, and do whatever we can to improve the collective well-being of humanity. This is at the heart of what InflammAid aims to do, and is something I hope that my mentor also believes.

Mentors often have a wide network of contacts; what type of contacts would be most useful to your project/organization? Explain why for each type of contact.

Scientists/Entrepreneurs- I'd love to speak with other researchers who are also working on alternative sepsis diagnostics and therapeutics, to learn from the challenges that they've faced, and if there are any chances for partnerships to expand my research. While I've been able to reach out to chemistry and biology professors in Seattle, speaking with those that head more interdisciplinary biotechnology labs and have experience with spin-offs near Boston and San Francisco could be particularly helpful.

Non-profit leaders- Forming partnerships with existing health organizations could help us gain access to a much larger audience, and distribute our message about sepsis awareness more effectively.

Media- Despite the fact that sepsis affects more people than AIDS, breast and prostate cancer combined, not many adults know what it is until they (or a family member) contracts it. Being able to recognize the warning signs of sepsis is crucial to reducing mortality, and getting the word out about these is also very important. I believe the best way to do this is through newspapers, radio, and television, but I've had trouble getting in contact with the right people to release, for example, a PSA.

Jathusha mahenthirarajan

Specifically, what does your project or organization need the most in order to grow and succeed in the next year? Example: Succession plan OR more volunteers OR fundraising

Learn how to make our work challenge systems, rather than only working at a grassroots level. We also need more adult advisors and mentors who can work closely to oversee project planning and implementation.

What are your THREE most important goals you want to accomplish with your Mentor in the next year? List each goal and explain with as much detail as possible to how you plan to follow through with your Mentor’s guidance.

With my mentor's guidance, I would want to do the following:

1. Focus the vision of L.I.G.H.T. more to make it more unique and stand out from other groups and figure out the next 3, 5, 10 year plan for L.I.G.H.T. in relation to how it aligns with my personal plan.

2. Find ways to make L.I.G.H.T.'s work more radical in challenging the status quo to create an equitable, and better so, liberated world

3. Leverage connections to create a strong advisory group

What sector, profession and/or areas of expertise would be most useful to your project/organization? Make sure to clearly explain why.

If someone has both experience in both the business and non-profit background, or even a combination of expertise in the education system and non-profit field, that would be ideal, because I believe they will be best able to help us understand how to work cross-sectorally to create the most impact.

My ideal mentor would be passionate about social justice, decolonization, liberation, resistance, and would have a passion for grassroots youth-led work. They would be passionate about changing the system to better lift everyone up.

Mentors often have a wide network of contacts; what type of contacts would be most useful to your project/organization? Explain why for each type of contact.

Connections to business world would be useful to look into future partnerships for funding. Connections to those who work within education system would be useful to see how L.I.G.H.T. can enter those spaces and make a difference.

Connections to artists would be useful to see how we can engage youth creatively in social justice, and how art can be used for resistance and change.

Connections to young leaders globally who may be be interested in starting their own L.I.G.H.T. chapter would be amazing to expand and scale our work in the next 3 years.

jefferson kang'acha

Specifically, what does your project or organization need the most in order to grow and succeed in the next year? Example: Succession plan OR more volunteers OR fundraising

It needs more fundraising and a lot more of networks working in the agricultural technology space.

What are your THREE most important goals you want to accomplish with your Mentor in the next year? List each goal and explain with as much detail as possible to how you plan to follow through with your Mentor’s guidance.

To have a well developed network. I envisage creating new connections within the agricultural technology space through my mentor to aid in research as well as widen my scope in terms of ideas where i could solicit for funds as well as build partnerships.

To successfully complete Incubation within my next year. Through my mentors guidance I envisage complete and graduate from an incubation program to launch my project into a fully fledged organization.

To present my project to more summits and platforms ( such as One Young World Summit, Thought for Food and anzisha prize) to create awareness on how we can generate more food for growing populations

What sector, profession and/or areas of expertise would be most useful to your project/organization? Make sure to clearly explain why.

Agricultural Engineers/Scientists- Construction and modification of the hydroponic unit as well as knowledge on climate matters.

Professionals in the agribusiness sector- To help in defining and enlarging the market for my hydroponic produce.

Professionals working in technology to improve agriculture- To boost the computerized system which is aiding in mechanization of the hydroponic unit.

Social entrepreneurship specialists- The Eden hub ultimately is a social enterprise, as such, these will help me grow the organization a social venture.

A really outgoing open minded mentor, open to communication and is passionate about social entrepreneurship in Agriculture and technology. He or she should be dynamic and free to give diverse opinions. A mentor I could really open up to as young crazy teen leader who is willing to carry the enormous burden of changing the world into a better place. The mentor should also possess socially acceptable behavior. Someone we could establish a closely knit relationship with to become a family of change making partners and citizens.

Mentors often have a wide network of contacts; what type of contacts would be most useful to your project/organization? Explain why for each type of contact.

Agricultural Engineers/Scientists-Construction and modification of the hydroponic unit as well as knowledge on climate matters.(The Food Agricultural Organization by the UN)

Professionals in the agribusiness sector-To help in defining and enlarging the market for my hydroponic produce.

Professionals working in technology to improve agriculture-To boost the computerized system which is aiding in mechanization of the hydroponic unit.

Social entrepreneurship specialists-The Eden hub ultimately is a social enterprise, as such, these will help me grow the organization a social venture.

jothi ramaswamy

Specifically, what does your project or organization need the most in order to grow and succeed in the next year? Example: Succession plan OR more volunteers OR fundraising

More volunteers, more grants and fundraising, and more reach to different towns and cities

What are your THREE most important goals you want to accomplish with your Mentor in the next year? List each goal and explain with as much detail as possible to how you plan to follow through with your Mentor’s guidance.

In the next year, I hope to expand ThinkSTEAM's reach to girls in more states and countries. Currently, ThinkSTEAM has reached out to girls in eight states through several technology workshops and its annual ThinkBIG Challenge, a video contest challenging girls to show others why they think that STEAM is important. With my mentor, I hope to gain contacts from my mentor in different parts of the nation, and even globe, who would be able to hold STEM workshops and spread ThinkSTEAM's curriculum to more girls.

Furthermore, I would like to improve my marketing of ThinkSTEAM, especially online. I hope my mentor can give me advice on how I should leverage ThinkSTEAM's social media. I also hope that my mentor can share connections with me who can spread the word about ThinkSTEAM on several news sites online from different parts of the nation and world.

I also would like to expand ThinkSTEAM's curriculum to contain lessons that teach girls about several different STEM concepts. Currently, ThinkSTEAM has held several computer science workshops in Java, Python, Swift, HTML/CSS, Scratch, and Arduino technology. ThinkSTEAM has also taught girls about the basics of electrical engineering through building paper circuits and about the basics of synthetic biology through demonstrations of gel electrophoresis. I hope that my mentor can share ideas of workshops and other programs that ThinkSTEAM can hold to add to its curriculum within the next year.

What sector, profession and/or areas of expertise would be most useful to your project/organization? Make sure to clearly explain why.

It would be most useful if my mentor was from a STEM sector because my organization, ThinkSTEAM, has a goal of bridging the gender gap in STEM by integrating the Arts (STEM + A = STEAM). A mentor in STEM would help me expand ThinkSTEAM's curriculum to holding several types of basic STEM workshops to girls. It would also be very useful to have a mentor in STEM who may also have other STEM contacts who could help me in holding workshops in different parts of the country and world.

My ideal mentor would be passionate towards allowing me to explore my talents and reach my full potential despite my very young age. Furthermore, my ideal mentor would be passionate towards bridging the gender gap and erasing all types of inequality in the world in several different fields, such as STEM. I would like a mentor who has beliefs in keeping up their word whenever they commit to helping me out with anything. I would also be nice to have a mentor who may share some hobbies with me, such as playing the violin or other instruments and taking a liking to music, debating, or exercising and playing sports.

Mentors often have a wide network of contacts; what type of contacts would be most useful to your project/organization? Explain why for each type of contact.

It would be useful for my mentor to have contacts in STEM who are willing to hold STEM workshops for ThinkSTEAM to reach out to girls in various parts of the country and world.

It would also be useful for my mentor to have contacts who have affiliations with news companies and websites so they can help publish information about ThinkSTEAM on different websites that reach out to girls from various locations.

Kiara nirghin

Specifically, what does your project or organization need the most in order to grow and succeed in the next year? Example: Succession plan OR more volunteers OR fundraising

A greater awareness using social media, specifically Instagram, Twitter and Facebook in order to encourage other young scientists to pursue innovative projects.

What are your THREE most important goals you want to accomplish with your Mentor in the next year? List each goal and explain with as much detail as possible to how you plan to follow through with your Mentor’s guidance.

1. I wish to grow a presence on social media: I hope to learn the skills from my mentor to assist my project and I, in creating a brand and perpetuating this to my target market, which is young children. My mentor will hopefully be skilled in creating a brand and assist me in carefully creating and communicating this brand on various media.

2. Networking: I hope that my mentor will be able to render me essential contacts that could assist me in reaching a wider, online platform that I could use to spread my message.

3. World wide speaking events: I would love to get involved in a more practical sense in spreading my work and encouraging other young children to take the same path. In fact, my biggest dream is to speak at the United Nations Headquarters in New York!

What sector, profession and/or areas of expertise would be most useful to your project/organization? Make sure to clearly explain why.

I believe that as an innovator in the STEM field, I do not in fact wish to have a mentor in the same field. In other words, a scientist in not necessarily want I am looking for, as I have been able to use the resources at my disposable to further my scientific research and I do not believe that a mentor would assist in this regard. Therefore, I hope that my mentor is in preferably the media industry or in fact perhaps the business industry.

I have so many ideas! But ultimately my mentor should believe in the power of children in making the world better, and therefore have philanthropic ideals but also believe in the power of doing things differently within or even in starting an business.

Mentors often have a wide network of contacts; what type of contacts would be most useful to your project/organization? Explain why for each type of contact.

Other social media influencers: It is with regards to this that I believe that a STEM based mentor would not fit ideally. I wish to receive and build a network of influencers from across the spectrum, e.g. film, televisions, other scientists, that can build upon my brand and encouraging ultimately innovation throughout young children globally.

Sponsors: I have many ideas to take my project further and I know with the use of larger capital funds that the possibilities are endless, I also wish to innovate in other fields and be able to use capital to create this products as a viable business and re-invest in my community.

kyla guru

Specifically, what does your project or organization need the most in order to grow and succeed in the next year? Example: Succession plan OR more volunteers OR fundraising

Exposure or structure in services that I can provide for districts (to increase impact and remote working) or recruitment strategy for leadership board

What are your THREE most important goals you want to accomplish with your Mentor in the next year? List each goal and explain with as much detail as possible to how you plan to follow through with your Mentor’s guidance.

1. Collaborate with a network of cybersecurity professionals and educators to publish a curriculum that groups, organizations, and schools can embed into their routine meetings/learning.

2. Revamp BNBCE's social media, website, and community presence: branding, open my mission up to the cybersecurity industry, as I aim to grow the next generation's digital leaders. Echo the importance of education and human error in cybersecurity and data breaches.

3. Connect with more schools and communities internationally to create a movement of empowerment worldwide. If students know how to handle the risks of their digital profile, especially as other issues of digital presence arise worldwide (child pornography, human trafficking on the deep web), they will be able to rise up and rise their community up with technology. I need a mentor who can lift me, my goal, and my idea of female entrepreneurship into new, greater opportunities that will open me up to greater audiences through different media outlets.

What sector, profession and/or areas of expertise would be most useful to your project/organization? Make sure to clearly explain why.

For Bits N' Bytes, I think someone who has worked on a mission internationally who has expertise in leadership, diplomacy, technology, and business. Someone who has made an impact on the greater community with their passion for technology and watched their project or mission develop and come to life. I think this international experience with the experience in technology or cybersecurity will be pivotal for BNBCE, because I am in need of the opinion and mentorship of someone who has lived through and succeeded with the same type of goals as I have and knows how to manage the nuances of growing an organization- nuances that maybe I hadn't even thought of before. This unique perspective will bring me to levels that I never thought I could reach.

My ideal mentor would have a business mindset, focusing on tasks like a well-oiled machine. They would be detail-oriented and be passionate about organization, planning, and execution: key parts of how I run my organization. They would be creative, visionary, and passionate about technology, advancing humanity, and about helping others. They would be spunky, personable, and positive: able to bear with me and not only support me in my projects, but guide me, advise me, and see the best in me. They would understand the worries of a student My mentor would dream big and expect more from me than what I even think I can do- they would push me to challenge myself, push the boundaries, all the while believing in me. They would be the type of people hungry for opportunity and who is eager to share with me when they find opportunities. For instance, just as shown in the mentor video on the 3 Dot Dash website, my mentor would prepare me to present to larger crowds than ever before, pair me with their network and team, and monitor my success. Lastly, my ideal mentor would be someone who genuinely wants to make the world a better, safer place in their own unique way. Someone who wants to stand out and someone who encourages me to be the best me possible.

Mentors often have a wide network of contacts; what type of contacts would be most useful to your project/organization? Explain why for each type of contact.

1. In the technology space: cybersecurity and tech in general

To help construct my learning platform, add credentials to my work, also to be my audience, understanding the need for education and awareness of cyber.

2. In the education space

To distribute, order, and use my lesson packages. To connect me with those who can highlight my student voice and encourage other teen entrepreneurs in their schools/districts.

3. In the humanitarian international community

To grow my mission on the international market and drive in the importance of cyber-education to schools worldwide.

Leander ganzert

Specifically, what does your project or organization need the most in order to grow and succeed in the next year? Example: Succession plan OR more volunteers OR fundraising

I need the discipline, mentorship and coaching to execute my plan.

Basic steps are:

- further development of technology

- funding for and development of maker labs

- production and distribution of the bionic hand

- evaluation and impact measurement

- branding, marketing, storytelling

What are your THREE most important goals you want to accomplish with your Mentor in the next year? List each goal and explain with as much detail as possible to how you plan to follow through with your Mentor’s guidance.

There are basically three levels on which the project is focussing. Those levels also define the goal I would like to accomplish with the support of the mentor:

a) The Technology Level:

- Production of 3D printed prosthetics:

- robotic hands

- mechanic hands

- other devices

- Research and Development,

- Finetuning,

- new ideas and tech,

- better design,

- improved software,

- improved energy system,

- field studies etc.

b) The MakerLabs level:

Development of a network of MakerLabs for:

- serial production of prosthetics

- distribution/sale of prosthetics

- innovation, research, and development

MakerLabs are key to the overall idea. There are other people working in the field of 3D printed devices. But no one has come up with a production and distribution network. This is one of the key elements of the overall project. Developing a series of MakerLabs in underdeveloped countries will help to innovate, produce and distribute the products.

c) The communication and social impact level:

- Marketing & Communication,

- developing opinion leadership,

- creating valuable content for other media and platforms on how tech solutions, social impact can provide solutions for disabled persons

The project is a fantastic contribution to the field of technology and innovation, providing access to solutions for poor people and addressing one of the major challenges in our global society: how to deal with disabled people.

Tasks

1. Business development:

a. Planning for serial production

The goal is to produce the hands and later on other products in a serial production through the various MakerLabs we want to establish. We need to guarantee that we will be able to supply all MakerLabs with the required parts and materials so that they can work without disruption.

- List of design specifications

- Detailed overview of all part which needs to be put into the hand

- List of costs for each part of the hand

- Accessibility and availability of parts and components

- Suppliers overview

- Agreements with suppliers

- Production procedure

- Quality control

b. Development of economic model for setting up of MakerLabs and hand production

We need to have a workshop on the economic model of the overall idea of the hand production and the establishment of MakerLabs.

- Business plan for social impact company "MakerLab Network"

- Economic model for each MakerLab and the overall network

- Identification of costs of production and distribution in each country

Marketing and Communication is not only a necessary part of the project, it is a key element of the overall idea. I want to become a traveling blogger on the development of the MakerLabs, the people who work in there, the disabled people and their changing life due to the use of our devices. This could become a format, which also generates some sort of revenues if we sell the content to the right media. It is an important part of the overall social impact strategy. Therefore we need a professional documentation process in all stages of the project. I already have a lot of footage, but I need more and more professional one.

- Professional Documentation

- Video production

- Blogs

- Speeches

- Presentations

- Content marketing as a revenue stream

- Cooperations with other organizations and institutions

3. Advisory Board and Supporter Network

As in every project, network and supporters are crucial to its success. We should form a strategic advisory board, that can help us in many different areas and who will act as ambassadors for the project. It is necessary for advice on all levels, fundraising, sponsorships and media contacts.

- Set up of a core advisory and supporter network with different skills from Health Care, MedTech, entrepreneurship, social impact, humanitarian work, legal

- Expanding network over time per each MakerLab country and other important organizations

- Professional organization with impact measurement

- Access to local and global organizations

4. Fundraising

Help to identify the right fundraising strategies.

a) Private donations

b) Crowdfunding

c) Donations from other organizations and foundations,

d) speeches and publications,

g) specific and dedicated financing for a MakerLabs

h) Sponsorships and partnerships

5. Research on the humanitarian side of our engagement

We need to plan for a detailed research process on all kinds of levels to find out about political developments, key people in that field, other tech gurus, other mentors (reverse innovation, social entrepreneurs, celebs, mental coaches, etc.) conferences, funding opportunities, local initiatives in our target countries, partnerships and million more things…

What sector, profession and/or areas of expertise would be most useful to your project/organization? Make sure to clearly explain why.

The project has many different dimensions. While there is specific technology knowhow and also medical knowhow necessary, it is at the same time important that the mentor has a strong entrepreneurial background in setting up start up businesses in a complicated environment such as underdeveloped economies including a deep understanding of the humanitarian workspace.

Given the goals for 2018/19 of the project the mentor would ideally have a strong background in:

My project is a combination of innovative high-tech, innovation networks, start up business and humanitarian engagement in a world of underdeveloped economies with a high percentage of disabled people. I think it is a lot to deal with. My mentor clearly has to have a passion for the amazing technology we have at hand and the possibilities we gain from using it in those countries with very poor health care. He should belief that we can build a large network of local change makers, which we will need to engage, train, educate and finance. My mentor will understand that it takes patience to get started in such countries while at the same time the gratefulness of those people will be overwhelming.

Mentors often have a wide network of contacts; what type of contacts would be most useful to your project/organization? Explain why for each type of contact.

1. Humanitarian Organisations

We need to get access to international programs of international organizations and their networks in order to benefit from their structures, knowhow and door opening capabilities where needed.

2. International trade law

We will need expertise in order to make sure we can access the various countries with our technology, build companies, employ local people and produce in a safe environment.

3. Medical approval process

What do we have to comply with?

4. Technology transfer and IP protection

How do we protect our idea, technology and production process.

5. Technology companies

We need the support from large and small technology companies who can provide us with tech support, production advise and other specific task we need to include.

5.Communication experts

We need to have strong support from communication and media experts who can provide us with advise on how to position the project best, gain attention from media, organizations and other supporting institutions.

6. Media

To place our story and constantly provide content

7. Funders

Ideally we would get access to funders who would be interested in taking over the sponsorship for each makerlab we build.

lewis wanyeki

Specifically, what does your project or organization need the most in order to grow and succeed in the next year? Example: Succession plan OR more volunteers OR fundraising

We need to raise more capital to increase our technical infrastructure. We also need to recruit more software engineers and data analysts.

What are your THREE most important goals you want to accomplish with your Mentor in the next year? List each goal and explain with as much detail as possible to how you plan to follow through with your Mentor’s guidance.

1. I want to learn more about my mentors life experiences, what made them get into what they are doing today and what i can learn from that. We will be conducting regular skype meetings at least 2 times a month.

2. I want to create a long lasting relationship with my mentor after the one week summit i will do this my regularly updating my mentor about our successes as well as failures.

3. As i am building a board of advisors for my venture, i'd like the mentor that i will be provided to be part of my board of advisors

What sector, profession and/or areas of expertise would be most useful to your project/organization? Make sure to clearly explain why.

1. Computer Science and Engineering & Data Analysts to advice me on the development and deployment of our computer platforms.

2. Impact Investors ( Angle Investor or Venture Capitalists ) to advice me on the various methods to raise capital for my startup.

3. Person who has worked on a technology company either small or big so that we can share on the best methods of running a business.

4. A person who has done work in Sub Saharan Africa because he/she resonates completely with the problem we are trying to solve.

MARCUS DEANS

Specifically, what does your project or organization need the most in order to grow and succeed in the next year? Example: Succession plan OR more volunteers OR fundraising

To grow and succeed in the next year, I need to be able to find the technical expertise necessary to continue research, and shortly afterwards fundraising to begin production designs. I also need to develop a specific plan for social outreach and media.

What are your THREE most important goals you want to accomplish with your Mentor in the next year? List each goal and explain with as much detail as possible to how you plan to follow through with your Mentor’s guidance.

Completing Testing of Devices: I would hope to have some assistance in determining what more needs to be completed to bring my devices to the market where they can help the people who need them most. I would hope to have some help in the technical aspect as well.

Outreach Efforts: I want to begin outreach efforts to promote STEM in my community so that others are inspired to find solutions for problems just as I was. I would hope to have some help in how to begin these efforts and the organization necessary for this.

Media Development & Launch: Once the devices are brought to a production level, I want to bring them to the areas that need them most. I would hope to have help in how to develop a media position properly and to promote my company so that I would be able to actually deliver these devices to the people who need them.

What sector, profession and/or areas of expertise would be most useful to your project/organization? Make sure to clearly explain why.

A mentor in the non-profit sector with experience in technological innovations would help me develop my projects and bring them to the affected areas of our world.

Expertise in STEM outreach and innovation would also help me to leverage my existing work to inspire others to solve problems they see in the world.

My ideal mentor would of course have a strong passion in helping others and truly believe in the goal of improving the lives of suffering people across the globe. A passion for STEM would help a lot with outreach and media efforts to help inspire others.

Mentors often have a wide network of contacts; what type of contacts would be most useful to your project/organization? Explain why for each type of contact.

Initially, contacts with technical expertise would help with development of the products. However, contacts with aid agencies in affected areas would provide crucial testing grounds for the devices once they are at a production stage. Contacts with government or those with experience in fundraising would also be helpful once production begins so that devices can be made for these suffering people.

Specifically, what does your project or organization need the most in order to grow and succeed in the next year? Example: Succession plan OR more volunteers OR fundraising

In 2018, Blankpaperz needs these the most:

1. More entrepreneurial plan to make money internally so as to sustain our organization. Funding is a very huge obstacle and so we need to learn how to make money to help grow and expand and give scholarships to teens in public schools.

2. I would need more technical skills, more knowledge on how to reach out to more people with our stories. How we can tell more stories of voiceless people and amplify their voices more effectively. This could be through the introduction of telling stories via short videos. We love the works of Brittle Paper, and people of New York. These two use literature and stories to tell storied that matter.

3. Blankpaperz needs to recognise and recruit viable, core team members and volunteers who understand our vision and are willing to grow the writing industry.

4. More strategic planning and goals.

What are your THREE most important goals you want to accomplish with your Mentor in the next year? List each goal and explain with as much detail as possible to how you plan to follow through with your Mentor’s guidance.

1. Develop a sustainable and entrepreneurial, internal funding scheme to run and sustain Blankpaperz and her projects. I want to learn how to make money to sustain Blankpaperz:

In 2017, here are some visions or projects Blankpaperz works to embark on:

a. Monthly or bimonthly writers and bloggers meetups

b. Writing and leadership workshops, both in public secondary schools for teenagers and also public workshops for members of the public.

c. Paid coaching/ training lessons for writers (this is one way we plan on getting funds)

e. More educational activities like book giveaways and scholarships to teens in school.

f. A Literary and art magazine for youths.

These are alot of projects, and with my mentors guide I would love to know how to make money as a social Entrepreneur.

2. I want to know and learn about more ways which I can use story telling to reach out to more people about issues which need to be talked about in our societies. If I could make videos telling these stories as short films, that would be an amazing feat in 2018. I want to know how to be a better writer, improve my writing skills and use more story telling media outlets to amplify more voices.

3. With my mentors aide, one of my goals is to become a better young woman, a better leader and role model. I hope to become more self aware, more bold and fearless and more open hearted and minded. An organization is usually a reflection of it's founders. A good leaders means a good organization. And I hope to also help my mentor in any way my mentor may need my help.

All these goals are so important to me that I cannot say which is more important than which, because they need each other.

What sector, profession and/or areas of expertise would be most useful to your project/organization? Make sure to clearly explain why.

1. Literature/writer/art/journalism: I have my roots in art and literature as I am personally a writer and I play the guitar as well. My project is about using one of the arts, writing, to amplify voices, encourage young writers, talk about issues and raise awareness. Journalists are Storytellers, artists also understand the need for arts to amplify voices, express oneself and artists also understand the need to raise money for projects.

2. Entrepreneurs: Blankpaperz needs to make money and raise funds creatively for projects.

3. International Creatives: this still falls under the aspect of writers and artists and journalists and even cinematographers and movie producers. Blankpaperz has writers from over 7 West African countries and has featured youths from the US as well.

1. I would love for my mentor to be creative and love deep connections/conversations and believe in story telling and the art. This is because Blankpaperz is a creative project for writers and needs creative means to be able to reach out to the audience to catch their attention. I'm also a creative person.

2. I would like my mentor to be believe that passion goes with profit. To be Entrepreneurially minded and also people and community minded

3. I would love for my mentor to be bold, fearless and feisty, and humble (if this can go in as well). My line of work needs that I be bold enough to talk about what others don't want to say and to also go places where others are afraid to go. If my mentor is a bold writer or Entrepreneur, it would also help my confidence and make me believe I can always be more.

4. Open minded, funny, humourous and non-judgemental and respectful of other cultures and traditions. I'm a Christian, one of my best friends is Muslim, I love all humanity and it helps me understand people more and why their stories are perculiar to them.

Mentors often have a wide network of contacts; what type of contacts would be most useful to your project/organization? Explain why for each type of contact.

Writers and best selling authors - I am a writer and blankpaperz involves storytelling

Journalists - journalists go to war zones and tell the stories of people, this is what Blankpaperz also hopes to do.

Humans of New York - Because Blankpaperz loves their work and story telling commitment as well as video and photography quality.

Social Entrepreneurs - People who make money off their passion and help others out. They combine passion and profit.

Coaches - I hope to Coach people and young writers through Blankpaperz.

Adventurers and travellers - because they have so many stories to tell and would have tips for me on how to get people to get their stories.

Art lovers - we love to amplify voices and learn more from art lovers and their experiences and journeys.

Mirabelle morah

MRIDUL MANAS

Specifically, what does your project or organization need the most in order to grow and succeed in the next year? Example: Succession plan OR more volunteers OR fundraising

Partnerships with organizations to offer reliable humanitarian/basic support to our users in North India's slums and the Afghan-Rohingya refugee camps and additonally for the users in the Mpaka refugee camp in Swaziland.

- A bigger network of volunteers.

What are your THREE most important goals you want to accomplish with your Mentor in the next year? List each goal and explain with as much detail as possible to how you plan to follow through with your Mentor’s guidance.

- Expanding outreach and activism: MeraSMS works with populations who are most often marginalised and at the centre of political conflicts (the refugees) with their basic rights being violated. Over the following years and especially the next year, I wish to work on increasing the impact of my organization's online and community-based activism. This includes bringing the unheard struggles of internal displaced migrant populations (eg. Being denied access to government schemes/policies despite being eligible) out in the public discourse. This year, an opportunity to speak in a TEDX event was a great opportunity to highlight the underlying motives behind working on MeraSMS.

- Networking and Partnerships: I wish to expand the network of organizations and aid bodies that provide support to the refugees and migrant slum populations whom me work with. Over the next years, my foremost priorities include fostering network of people and organizations that can help with leadership, increasing impact and provide humanitarian and basic support to the most vulnerable of our target communities (the Rohingyan refugees and the Sudanese refugees in Southern Africa)

- Personal Activism: Over the past few years, working on projects like MeraSMS, YouthFWD, Girl Rising etc. has allowed to extensively research and explore the issues of access to education, health, politics, gender-based issues. Due to personal beliefs, I have loved collecting statistics, evaluating past public policy schemes and learning about cultural and anthropological forces existing in various communities in parts of India and South Africa. One of my foremost personal goals include maintaining online and offline presence to put my findings in public discourse, receive critical evaluation and further improve my findings. Blogs of personalities such as Ethan Zuckerman, Alana Sheikh (also, Texas in Africa), are huge sources of inspiration. Getting the guidance from my mentor to write op-eds and personal blogs is something that I would wish for.

What sector, profession and/or areas of expertise would be most useful to your project/organization? Make sure to clearly explain why.

An ideal mentor for me would an individual with a background in International Development, government or aid work. Given the various issues such as education, health, food and shelter that MeraSMS and several of other micro-projects, that I am a part of, deal with, I would love to have someone who can help me the understand the politics and mechanisms of international development and the underlying challenges. I would love to have someone with whom I could have insightful open-ended conversations on subject matters of public policy and aid work.

A common interest in social entrepreneurship, politics and public policy sounds really fantastic. I am a big follower of movements such as Effective Altruism, Giving What We Can and Acumen Fund. I would love to have someone who believes in achieving measurable and sustainable impact, and empowering the vulnerable rather than just giving. My intellectual interests lie in exploring the successes and failures of various ways international development, charity and public policy have operated so far. Someone who loves to challenge and reflect on the status quo policies and norms would be ideal.

Mentors often have a wide network of contacts; what type of contacts would be most useful to your project/organization? Explain why for each type of contact.

A lot of MeraSMS's impact relies on the help of various nonprofits, government bodies and organizations who act on our request to provide support to the alum families that they need. Therefore, someone with contacts in nonprofit sector would be ideal.

NEIMAN MATHEW

Specifically, what does your project or organization need the most in order to grow and succeed in the next year? Example: Succession plan OR more volunteers OR fundraising

We need a lab that has nano, physical, chemical, and biological testing capabilities. Without a sufficient lab our inventions are functionally useless! We desperately need a lab. We are currently trying to find a lab so that we can take a gap year. The lab can be in any city as long as they let us keep our IP.

What are your THREE most important goals you want to accomplish with your Mentor in the next year? List each goal and explain with as much detail as possible to how you plan to follow through with your Mentor’s guidance.

1) Help find a Lab that has the necessary equipment we need to bring our inventions to market.( noted in previous answers) The intellectual ventures lab in Bellevue, Washington would be ideal, anything similar would work as well!

2) Once inventions are market ready, we will license technology for faster implementation. A mentor well versed in complex technological licensing and implementation would be extremely beneficial.

3) Establish how we would

What sector, profession and/or areas of expertise would be most useful to your project/organization? Make sure to clearly explain why.

Anyone that is well versed in technological innovation with connections to aid us in the progression and launch of out inventions.

PAIGE BROWN

Specifically, what does your project or organization need the most in order to grow and succeed in the next year? Example: Succession plan OR more volunteers OR fundraising

Further scientific development OR Patent/Regulatory help OR Networking/

Connections OR fundraising

What are your THREE most important goals you want to accomplish with your Mentor in the next year? List each goal and explain with as much detail as possible to how you plan to follow through with your Mentor’s guidance.

I want to learn how to navigate the regulatory landscape associated with intellectual property and patents, and with permits for field testing. I hope my mentor will have some experience with this, especially in the area of water/environmental engineering, and will be able to offer firsthand advice on dealing with this and connect me with trustworthy people in this process.

I plan to start networking and negotiating with municipalities, farmers, corporations, and governmental entities to determine how to best design and market my device to fit their needs and, again, how to navigate the regulatory red tape. Ideally, I'd like a mentor with experience in this area of logistical negotiation and with connections in relevant entities.

Also, funding is a concern, so I need to work on getting funding/facilities for scale-up and mass production. I need a lot of help on the logistics of managing and funding an operation like this and determining where I should work with outside contractors.

What sector, profession and/or areas of expertise would be most useful to your project/organization? Make sure to clearly explain why.

A mentor with experience in environmental engineering, especially in water resources, would be especially useful to me for their experience as well as their connections. I'd like to work with someone who has dealt with the logistics of transforming a scientific discovery into a startup, and also in social entrepreneurship and nonprofits, not just profit based startups. I need significant guidance on the front of generating funding and dealing with regulatory red tape, so government experience might be useful too. Technical knowledge in the field of water absorption chemistry would be useful but not the most important.

My ideal mentor would be passionate about clean water availability, social entrepreneurship, and scientific discovery, so they'll be enthusiastic about this project

Mentors often have a wide network of contacts; what type of contacts would be most useful to your project/organization? Explain why for each type of contact.

Connections are critical for me - ideally, I'd like my mentor to have connections in patent law so I can develop that side of my project, in organizations that I would eventually market to (since I need to study how best to design for them), and contacts in potential funding sources like social entrepreneur VCs.

prathik naidu

Specifically, what does your project or organization need the most in order to grow and succeed in the next year? Example: Succession plan OR more volunteers OR fundraising

A lot of what I'm looking for right now is finding new ways to improve the tool (add more features/build out the technology). I'm also looking forward to connecting with medical professionals and experienced individuals in the health tech space to partner or learn more about bringing a scientific tool to market (one company that comes to mind is Flatiron Health in NYC).

What are your THREE most important goals you want to accomplish with your Mentor in the next year? List each goal and explain with as much detail as possible to how you plan to follow through with your Mentor’s guidance.

1. Gain a bigger network of health tech professionals and scientists especially those in the startup/entrepreneurship world. This would be useful to help grow my idea and generally get connected with people who might be interested in the software or could provide good advice about how to run a project at the intersection of technology and healthcare. I would follow through with my mentor's guidance on this goal by continuing to keep in touch with these connections and meeting up with them (both in person since I'm in the Bay Area or over the phone).

2. Define vision and direction for the project specifically in terms of creating a structured timeline and plan. I've worked a lot on the tech and research-oriented problems but I'm now interested in working with my mentor to create a game plan for adding new features to make the product more usable in the clinical setting.

3. Grow the idea (related to the previous two goals), but I'm especially interested in figuring out exactly what needs to be created with respect to the tool to make it distributed more widely beyond the scientific research space. I would definitely follow through with Mentor's advice on how to execute a good strategy for accomplishing growth.

What sector, profession and/or areas of expertise would be most useful to your project/organization? Make sure to clearly explain why.

Someone in the entrepreneurship world especially in health technology or the technology space in general would be useful since those are the skills and areas that I'm working in with this project. Having a mentor in this space would be great to provide guidance, advice, and general support as I grow the project and figure out new features to add.

In general a mentor in the machine learning space particularly for healthcare problems would be helpful as well since I'm working in a similar area. I know a lot of tech companies (Google, Facebook, etc.) have big research divisions focused on clinical data and research and I'd love to get in touch with individuals there who are working on data science and machine learning problems.

My ideal mentor should believe in the future of technology (AI, robotics, etc.) in healthcare. He/she would ideally be passionate about the intersection of technology in the medical world and love solving challenging problems in this area to ultimately make a difference.

Mentors often have a wide network of contacts; what type of contacts would be most useful to your project/organization? Explain why for each type of contact.

I mentioned above briefly, but contacts that would be most useful would be to startups working on healthcare problems since these individuals would be useful to talk too for advice and experience working on building a product in the health tech world.

In addition, contacts at R&D Healthcare programs of companies (especially at tech companies like Google, Facebook, and Amazon) would be awesome because these are the companies that are working heavily in the data science and machine learning area that I'm also in as well. Meeting these individuals would provide opportunities for partnerships or just generally meeting individuals who could provide advice!

Apart from contacts in the entrepreneurship world, a mentor who's also well versed and familiar with venture capital and startup fundraising would be useful. While this is definitely down the line for me, it's useful to start thinking about framing what's now a research-oriented project into an actual tool that can be distributed to hospitals. Experience in venture capital would help with this for sure.

SABAH HUSSAIN

Specifically, what does your project or organization need the most in order to grow and succeed in the next year? Example: Succession plan OR more volunteers OR fundraising

Although the CSU has a good presence online via social media, I think that presence needs to be more "solidified" and a website, blog, etc need to be created. This would make the organization more credible but also serve as a cornerstone and place of documentation for all of our events and initiatives.

What are your THREE most important goals you want to accomplish with your Mentor in the next year? List each goal and explain with as much detail as possible to how you plan to follow through with your Mentor’s guidance.

1) Starting the process towards getting full 501(c)(3) nonprofit status. Although CSU can and does use online crowdfunding campaigns to fundraise money, it would be so much easier (and more efficient) to apply for grants. With official nonprofit status also comes credibility and this would help CSU's policy goals tremendously.

2) Securing partnerships and sponsorships with other non profit organizations, companies, etc. Right now, CSU does have contact with organizations who we do consider partners, but it would be super helpful to have partners who could provide strategic help, assistance, or resources to help the organization grow.

3) Learning how to effectively use social media to maximize online presence and sustainably growing CSU. CSU is student-led, and student-run and although that is fantastic, we have all come to the conclusion that it would help the organization a lot if we were to adopt a model where we have board members (the students) and trustees (experienced organizers, journalists, etc) who help CSU with planning, etc.

What sector, profession and/or areas of expertise would be most useful to your project/organization? Make sure to clearly explain why.

Someone with experience in starting organizations, perhaps someone more acquainted with running the business side of organizations, would be really helpful. This is because, the CSU has access to activists and community organizers who we can consult in to further our advocacy goals, but we have no one we can turn to when we need help with growing our organization.

My ideal mentor would have passion for social change, and would really believe that it can be achieved by mobilizing people. Someone who genuinely and strongly believes that everyone is capable of acting as a force of change, no matter how young. The CSU was not taken seriously in the beginning of our organization because we were all powerless CPS (Chicago Public Schools) students but are now active shakers in the educational policy realm. My ideal mentor would be someone who is able to faith into causes they believe in not because things are guaranteed to happen, but because the uncertainty of the possibility emboldens them to act with even more force and passion.

Mentors often have a wide network of contacts; what type of contacts would be most useful to your project/organization? Explain why for each type of contact.

Contacts like lawyers who offer pro bono services (to consult them for the 501(c)(3) organization status), business leaders who know what makes successful, sustainable organizations, consultants who can help with social marketing and branding strategy for CSU, graphic designers and coders who can assist CSU with making a website, and nonprofit workers who can help with grant research or donor outreach.

sanjana akula

Specifically, what does your project or organization need the most in order to grow and succeed in the next year? Example: Succession plan OR more volunteers OR fundraising

Film/ video content production for two purposes:

1. Informational (two versions students and prospective employers)

2. Training (tutorials for Rakshana's teachers)

What are your THREE most important goals you want to accomplish with your Mentor in the next year? List each goal and explain with as much detail as possible to how you plan to follow through with your Mentor’s guidance.

0. (Sorry, had to add this in): restructure STEM program so that we focus on topics that have a lower barrier to entry in order to ensure that trafficking survivors can feasibly gain the skills necessary for success in the field

1. Expand Rakshana into China, Venezuela, and Philippines (trafficking hubs) -- learn how to navigate various sociopolitical environments and raise awareness without causing resentment/ alienating the local population.

2. Increase frequency of employer workshops abroad -- foreign workshops are delegated to other Rakshana Division Heads, but I currently lack the skills necessary to ensure that the organization's leaders meet deadlines/ follow through.

3. Gain government and corporate sponsors for campaigns reaching out to employers regarding the employment of sex trafficking survivors.

What sector, profession and/or areas of expertise would be most useful to your project/organization? Make sure to clearly explain why.

Profession: Technology Business Development Consultant with background in nonprofit growth and STEM (and hopefully an understanding of marketing/ branding)

----

STEM- (see goal #1: "restructure STEM program so that we focus on topics that have a lower barrier to entry in order to ensure that trafficking survivors can feasibly gain the skills necessary for success in the field")

Storytelling/ Media Content Development & Data Presentation- key to convincing employers that it is worthwhile/ beneficial to allow sex trafficking survivors to intern at their companies

Volunteer Outreach- recruiting knowledgeable STEM volunteer teachers for the program

International Relations- nuanced understanding of how to navigate complex cultural dynamics while raising awareness for a controversial topic

Organizational Growth/ Strategic Partnerships- identifying areas to expand into to further increase trafficking awareness (i.e. creating video content to raise awareness for trafficking in classrooms); understanding how to contact high-profile organizations and provide a compelling reason/argument to partner with Rakshana despite my age

Management- managing exponential growth in volunteers (ensuring that everyone is doing their part); delegating tasks to other Rakshana international division leaders while ensuring quality control

Fundraising/ Corporate Sponsorships- in order to have quality STEM teachers, it is important that Rakshana develops the financial base necessary in order to pay teachers stipends in the near future; to increase the scope of campaigns, advertise events, and increase credibility

Most important belief: even the most seemingly impossible task has a solution -- training sex trafficking survivors in any STEM field is notoriously difficult because of the amount of technical skill required

STEM background-- important that they feel strongly about the involvement of women in STEM and that they are knowledgeable enough about the topic that they can help me identify how to restructure the training program around STEM areas with a lower barrier to entry/ that Rakshana's students can find success in

Mentors often have a wide network of contacts; what type of contacts would be most useful to your project/organization? Explain why for each type of contact.

-Obtaining 501(c)3 status (organizations < approx. 15k in revenue do not need to file, but, in order to substantially increase growth/ scope of awareness campaigns, I will have to increase Rakshana's emphasis on fundraising)

-Filing financial forms

-Operating abroad

STEM experts:

-To guide changes to STEM curriculum's content/ what areas of STEM the curriculum focuses on

SHARON LIN

Specifically, what does your project or organization need the most in order to grow and succeed in the next year? Example: Succession plan OR more volunteers OR fundraising

More team members and funding

What are your THREE most important goals you want to accomplish with your Mentor in the next year? List each goal and explain with as much detail as possible to how you plan to follow through with your Mentor’s guidance.

1) I want to launch an official product for White Water and track its growth through metrics and analytics.

2) I want to roll out an official program for communities and NGOs to register themselves for in order to bring more awareness to water quality issues abroad.

3) I want to roll out the crowdsourced imaging platform and ultimately release an open source database of bacterial images.

What sector, profession and/or areas of expertise would be most useful to your project/organization? Make sure to clearly explain why.

It would be most useful for my Mentor to work for the UN, a technology startup, or to be involved in venture capital.

My Mentor would be passionate about innovation and health, especially as it relates to technology. This would allow our goals to align, especially in terms of their perspectives about the work that White Water is accomplishing.

Mentors often have a wide network of contacts; what type of contacts would be most useful to your project/organization? Explain why for each type of contact.

1) Investors - this would directly benefit us, as we'd be able to utilize these connections to gain funding for our project

2) Media contacts - this would help with our branding and raising awareness for our organization

3) Leaders in non-profit - this would help us expand our network and grow recognition for the work and mission we're accomplishing